College and Research Libraries


F o r those not so f o r t u n a t e as to be in a 
teaching situation, the cases make good, in-
tellectually s t i m u l a t i n g fireside reading, par-
ticularly a m o n g a small group o f colleagues, 
for good conversation on how we would 
h a n d l e that p a r t i c u l a r p r o b l e m . Or, as would 
p r o b a b l y o f t e n be the case, how we did 
h a n d l e that p r o b l e m — a n d what we f o u n d 
o u t l a t e r was wrong with that s o l u t i o n . — 
LeRoy Charles Merrit, University of Cali-
fornia, Berkeley. 

Library History 
An American Library History Reader; Con-

tributions to Library Literature. Selected 
by J o h n D a v i d Marshall. H a m d e n , Con-
n e c t i c u t : Shoe S t r i n g Press, 1961. 4 6 4 p . 
$9.00. 

I f the rate of p u b l i c a t i o n is any bell-
wether, interest in A m e r i c a n library history 
is increasing. W i t h i n the past year have ap-
peared two m o n o g r a p h s on the history of 
library education, a biography o f a p u b l i c 
l i b r a r i a n , a n d two collections o f readings. 
(Sarah K. V a n n ' s Training for Librarian-

ship before 1923; Education for Librarian-
ship Prior to the Publication of Williamson's 
Report on Training for Library Service, Carl 
M i l t o n W h i t e ' s The Origins of the American 
Library School, M a r t h a Boaz's Fervent and 
Full of Gifts; the Life of Althea Warren, 
T h e l m a E a t o n ' s Contributions to American 
Library History, and the book u n d e r review.) 
F o r an area in which few people have here-
tofore shown much interest, these publica-
tions are a g e n u i n e act o f f a i t h . 

J o h n David Marshall, acquisitions l i b r a r i a n 
at the University of G e o r g i a , has edited a 
c o l l e c t i o n of papers read b e f o r e the Amer-
ican L i b r a r y History R o u n d T a b l e , plus 
various o t h e r articles especially a p p e a l i n g to 
him, because " I t h i n k they m e r i t the preser-
vation a b o o k — a n d only a book—can give 
t h e m . " O f the papers included in this v o l u m e 
all e x c e p t three were read before the r o u n d 
t a b l e a n d all e x c e p t one have been published 
previously in a variety of library periodicals. 

Marshall's anthology is divided i n t o f o u r 
sections. T h e two i n t r o d u c t o r y essays are 
" T h e I m p o r t a n c e of L i b r a r y H i s t o r y , " by 
L o u i s Shores, a f o u n d e r of the r o u n d table, 
and " L o n g L i f e to the L i b r a r y History R o u n d 

T a b l e , " by Stanley Pargellis, read before the 
first a n d second meetings of the organization. 
P a r t two c o n t a i n s eleven " h i s t o r i c a l essays" 
of varying length and depth o f t r e a t m e n t , 
i n c l u d i n g personal reminiscences as well as 
as d o c u m e n t e d historical papers. Marshall's 
definition of " h i s t o r i c a l " is fairly broad; 
some of the essays are merely records. Bio-
graphical essays, some twenty-one in all, com-
prise the third section, many of them personal 
reminiscences of the " g r e a t l i b r a r i a n s " by 
those who knew them. P a r t f o u r is a reprint-
ing of the short and sometimes i n a d e q u a t e 
sketches o f the forty l i b r a r i a n s chosen for "A 
L i b r a r y H a l l of F a m e " in c o n n e c t i o n with 
the seventy-fifth anniversary c e l e b r a t i o n of 
the A L A . 

As would n a t u r a l l y be true of any collec-
tion of papers read before an i n f o r m a l 
organization such as the A L H R T , the essays 
in this anthology are uneven in quality. 
T h e y range from the e x c e l l e n t a n d thorough 
esays of Edwin W o l f I I , " F r a n k l i n and His 
Friends Choose T h e i r B o o k s , " and Clifford 
K. Shipton's, " J o h n L a n g d o n Sibley, L i b r a r -
i a n , " to L a w r e n c e Clark Powell's account of 
the p u r l o i n i n g of the Bay Psalm Book at 
U C L A , " S t o p T h i e f . " W h a t p a r t i c u l a r con-
t r i b u t i o n the l a t t e r article makes to Ameri-
can library history would be difficult to 
discover, b u t it was read b e f o r e the A L H R T 
in J u n e 1953. 

I f criticism can be made (and it c a n ) that 
first-rate historical essays in this anthology 
are rare, it should also be stated that some 
of the reminiscences, the stuff from which 
history may l a t e r be written, are superb. T h e 
reviewer was particularly impressed with the 
two papers of M a r i a n C. M a n l e y , " P e r s o n a l -
ities B e h i n d the D e v e l o p m e n t of P A I S " and 
" A Worm's-Eye View of L i b r a r y L e a d e r s . " 
Some of the reminiscences reveal the authors' 
keen insight and achieve a discriminating 
b a l a n c e between tribute a n d fact. Particu-
larly useful are the sketches of less well-
known l i b r a r i a n s such as E l e c t r a Collins 
D o r e n , F r a n k Avery H u t c h i n s , and Mary 
Frances Isom. O n a par with the W o l f a n d 
S h i p t o n essays are P e t e r T h o m a s C o n m y ' s on 
James L o u i s Gillis and David M e a r n s ' on 
H e r b e r t P u t n a m . O n the o t h e r h a n d some 
reminiscences of m a j o r figures are poorer 
than they ought to be, a n d I cite only the 
generalizations of Carl Vitz on W i l l i a m H . 
B r e t t as an e x a m p l e . 

J U L Y 1 9 6 2 3 4 9 



I n his " L o n g L i f e to the L i b r a r y History 
R o u n d T a b l e , " Pargellis suggested specific 
areas i n which the r o u n d t a b l e m i g h t work: 
the lives a n d achievements of great librar-
ians, with the idea of isolating a professional 
ethic; the historical d e v e l o p m e n t of particu-
lar libraries, a n d t h e history of l i b r a r i e s as 
it is r e l a t e d to the whole o f i n t e l l e c t u a l his-
tory. O n e can scarcely i m a g i n e a b e t t e r 
g u i d e l i n e t h a n Pargellis gave, a n d yet o n e 
can hardly say that these essays r e p r e s e n t 
c o m p l e t e f u l f i l l m e n t o f the basic o b j e c t i v e s . 
P e r h a p s the chief difficulty is t h a t m a n y li-
brarians have n o t b e e n t r a i n e d to write 
good history. 

A t $ 9 . 0 0 an a n t h o l o g y o f A m e r i c a n library 
history o u g h t to i n c l u d e t h e best writing on 
that topic. I n his i n t r o d u c t i o n M a r s h a l l 
c o m m e n t s : " T h e a n t h o l o g i s t . . . always be-
comes v u l n e r a b l e to a slightly u n f a i r k i n d o f 
criticism; criticism f o r what h e l e f t o u t as 
well as f o r what he p u t i n . " P e r h a p s so, b u t 
if these essays w a r r a n t p r e s e n t a t i o n in a 
book—"and only a book"—especially at this 
price, they ought to fulfill some useful 
f u n c t i o n ; a n d die a n d i o l o g i s t should accept 
some criticism f o r the exclusions as well as 
the inclusions. 

P a r t i c u l a r l y d i s t u r b i n g to this reviewer 
was the f a i l u r e to i n c l u d e three m a j o r works 
o f special value to those who are interested 
in library history. J e s s e H . Shera's " T h e 
L i t e r a t u r e of A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y H i s t o r y " 
(Library Quarterly, X V (1945), 1 - 2 2 ) might 
well h a v e b e e n the capstone o f Marshall's 
a n t h o l o g y ; a n d in my o p i n i o n n o anthology 
o f A m e r i c a n library history would b e com-
plete w i t h o u t it. A n o t h e r Shera article, " O n 
the V a l u e of L i b r a r y H i s t o r y " (Library 
Quarterly, X X I I (1952), 2 4 0 - 2 5 1 ) could prop-
erly a c c o m p a n y Shores's a n d Pargellis' essays 
in the i n t r o d u c t o r y section. E x c l u s i o n o f the 
third item, V e r n e r W . C l a p p a n d E d y t h e W . 
First's " A L A M e m b e r N o . 13: A First G l a n c e 
at J o h n E d m a n d s " (Library Quarterly, X X V I 
(1956), 1 - 2 2 ) is i n e x p l i c a b l e in view o f the 
heavy b i o g r a p h i c a l bias o f the b o o k . I n fact, 
the C l a p p a n d First article could serve as a 
m o d e l f o r those who w a n t to try t h e i r h a n d 
at a b i o g r a p h i c a l p o r t r a i t o f o n e of the 
" g r e a t s . " S o m e o f t h e p o o r e r reminiscences 
a n d the " L i b r a r y H a l l of F a m e " m i g h t have 
been left o u t to provide space f o r these three 
items. 

D o e s M a r s h a l l ' s b o o k have value? Yes, 

some o f essays are worth having in b o o k 
form, especially those on the less well k n o w n 
librarians. Perhaps, as the foreword suggests, 
the v o l u m e will also serve to stimulate the 
writing a n d p u b l i c a t i o n of o t h e r works in 
library history. W h a t the profession now 
needs is n o t a n o t h e r c o l l e c t i o n o f readings 
b u t a solid m o n o g r a p h on A m e r i c a n library 
history, p r e f e r a b l y 2 0 0 - 2 5 0 pages long, which 
will give the overview from which f u r t h e r 
intensive effort may come. T h e a u t h o r o f 
such a history may m a k e use of the data from 
these papers, b u t will h a v e to g o beyond 
them. Such is the state o f the art that any 
prospective a u t h o r is still g o i n g to have to 
d o most o f his own s p a d e w o r k . — E d w a r d G. 
Holley, University of Illinois. 

Publishers on Publishing 

Publishers on Publishing. Selected a n d ed-
ited, with C o m m e n t a r y a n d an I n t r o d u c -
tion by G e r a l d Gross. P r e f a c e by F r e d e r i c 
G . M e l c h e r . New Y o r k : R . R . B o w k e r 
C o m p a n y a n d Grosset 8c D u n l a p , 1961. 
4 9 1 p . $5.00 (cloth), $ 2 . 9 5 (paper, Grosset 
U n i v e r s a l L i b r a r y ) . 

T h e w o n d e r grows as o n e reads these dis-
cursive, idiosyncratic, a n d seldom contradic-
tory remarks on " a n o c c u p a t i o n f o r gentle-
m e n " that books ever m a n a g e to get pub-
lished. ( T h a t they have some difficulties get-
t i n g d i s t r i b u t e d is a pressing p r o b l e m o n l y 
t a n g e n t i a l l y worried at h e r e . ) F r e d r i c W a r -
burg's c o m m e n t o n Sir S t a n l e y U n w i n ' s pub-
lisher's b i b l e , The Truth About Publishing, 
candidly acknowledges, " M y o n l y criticism 
of this e x c e l l e n t b o o k is t h a t it tends to as-
assume t h a t p u b l i s h i n g is a r a t i o n a l process." 

T h e r e a d e r is impressed by t h e almost 
evangelical high-mindedness o f publishers; 
a n d those who disclaim pretensions to high 
purpose cheerfully admit they are in the 
game for the fun o f it. U n i f o r m l y they pro-
test that o n l y a f o o l w o u l d h o p e t o m a k e a 
f o r t u n e at so hazardous a pursuit. W h i l e in-
sisting that any good p u b l i s h e r would have 
b e c o m e a m i l l i o n a i r e in a n o t h e r field, n o n e 
would e x c h a n g e the g a i n f o r the f u n . T h i s 
leitmotif takes on the t o n e o f elegy f o r the 
r e a d e r t r a c i n g t h e growth o f p u b l i s h i n g from 

3 5 0 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S